Technical Field
This invention relates to transport vehicles in the manner of small trucks. More particularly, the subject invention describes methods and apparatus for converting a flatbed truck body into a dropside truck body.
Background Art
The Problem
A pickup truck whose load bed has hinged side panels, at the sides and at the rear, is commonly known as a “dropside” pickup, and is highly favored by tradesmen as their work vehicle. To facilitate access to the load bed, the rear and side panels rotate downward 180 degrees, and may remain in the lowered position during transport, thus easily accommodating overhanging cargo on the resulting flatbed configuration. Also, with the hinged panels in the lowered position, the flatbed becomes a useful jobsite work platform for fabricating/assembly operations, as a saw table, or for laying out a set of plans.
Once you have owned a dropside “you can never go back” to a standard (USA) pickup “box”, which accommodates less cargo, and which cannot readily be loaded from the sides, especially with a forklift.
Dropside bodies are the norm in Europe and Asia but they are rare in the U.S., because all U.S. truck-body manufacturers seem to be stuck in the time-warp of a “stake-bed” design, little changed from a 1903 Knox: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/jacksnell707/sets/72157621740682312/. This century-old stake-bed design (aka stake rack) is still being mass produced in the U.S. despite it's being extremely inconvenient to use for work, compared to dropsides. To be sure, Asian and European vehicle manufacturers produce dropside trucks for their own domestic and export markets but, inexplicably, none currently export these most-useful vehicles into the U.S. market, as a GOOGLE search quickly reveals, e.g., http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/31/fiat-doblo-gets-a-dropside-work-up;http://www.china-pickup.com/catalogue/title/dadi-bdd1022de-pioneer-drop-side
Watching TV coverage of wars in the Middle East, one can't help but notice that the Toyota Hilux Dropside is often the vehicle of choice for the rebels, carrying both fighters and mounted weaponry, such is the versatility of dropsides, which are readily available throughout Europe and Asia. https://www.olx.co.za/ad/2011-toyota-hilux-2-5-d4d-s-c-dropside-lwb-IDUGNsV.html.
American tradesmen are faced with the Hobson's choice of accepting the U.S. offerings of a standard “pickup box” (which looks good on a showroom floor, but is ill-suited for tradesmen) or ordering a custom-made dropside, an expensive alternative. Outside the USA, Toyota offers a factory-built dropside option (a favorite of Middle East terrorists) which it calls a “tray body”. Americans cannot easily buy one. http://www.northpointtoyota.com.au/-/toyota/lib/pdfs/Hilux%20Tray%20Body%20Product%20Range.pdf.
A Partial Solution
In the U.S., smaller (7′-12′) platform (flatbed) truck bodies are produced in sufficient quantities by a number of after-market manufacturers such that for “standard” designs (with 113-year-old stake pockets), prices are quite competitive. These bodies are within the budget of most professional tradesmen who, if willing to spend the extra effort to delete the standard pickup box from a pickup truck before or after purchase of the vehicle, can install a platform body to create a flatbed truck which is substantially more useful than a standard pickup.
Sadly, all too many of these flatbed owners then choose to use the ubiquitous (and all-too-handy) stake pockets to hold wooden side panels, often homemade from 2×4's and 2×12's. Ostensibly removable, such homemade side panels are unwieldy to handle and so are seldom removed, for loading and unloading, thus increasing loading height and obstructing forklift loading from the sides. Stake-pocket-mounted side panels are thus not user friendly, and measurably increase time and effort of loading, compared to a dropside.
A better (but expensive) option (opted by perhaps 5% of flatbed purchasers) is to go the extra mile and customize the (relatively inexpensive) standard flatbed by attaching (often by welding) hinges and latches to create a dropside flatbed, the Gold standard of utility work trucks. For the one-percenters, the Platinum standard is achieved by adding a dump hoist.
But a very low percentage of U.S. flatbeds have dropsides; those 1903-era stake pockets are just too enticing, requiring little time, money, and thinking to add side panels. Thinking long term, the initial investment of creating a dropside would pay dividends over many years, due to the higher productivity of dropsides, day-in and day-out. But present laziness usually carries the day; we Americans tend to be short-sighted in such matters.
Accordingly, a primary object of the subject invention is to make dropside truck bodies more available and more easily available to those who can benefit from their use.
A further object of the subject invention is to increase the accessibility of dropside truck bodies for consumers in markets in which commercially produced dropside trucks are inaccessible, difficult to access, or are only available at very high cost.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide a method to convert a flatbed truck body into a dropside truck body that is quick, easy and inexpensive to implement.
Yet another object of the subject invention is to provide apparatus and kits that facilitate the quick, easy and inexpensive conversion of a flatbed truck body into a dropside truck.